39 deaths with COVID-19 added to Iowa total as number of cases increases at slower rate

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – The number of new coronavirus cases detected over the past week in Iowa is still at a rate similar to that of late January, but the growth of new cases has slowed somewhat, according to new state data.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Iowa Department of Public Health said 8,308 people in Iowa tested positive for COVID-19 for the first time during the week between Wednesday, August 25 and Tuesday. August 31. This averages out to about 1,186.9 new cases per day during this period, higher than the 1,016.0 average daily cases for the previous week.

The 8,308 new cases this week were 16.8% higher than the 7,112 cases the week before. This figure is lower than the 24.8% change between the number of cases in the previous two weeks. The change was also much smaller than the change in the weekly counts seen through July and early August, which showed increases between 51% and 71% each week.

Data shows 22% of positive tests in the past week were in children 17 and under and 20% of the positives were among those in their late teens and twenties, according to an Associated Press analysis. .

Another 39 people who have died with COVID-19 have been added to the state’s total, which is now 6,307 since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitalization data is not made available by the state until late Wednesday evening.

While the tests increased to 21,598 tests processed last week, the positivity rate for this batch of tests remained very high at 38.5%. A total of 1,912,356 people have been tested for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

34,960 additional doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered in the state over the past week, a rate quite similar to that in recent weeks. A total of 3,219,337 individual doses of the vaccine were administered in Iowa. 1,612,253 people have completed their immunization programs, an increase of 18,696 since last week. 132,352 people received their first dose of an injection and are awaiting a second injection, a decrease of 1,429 since last week at this time and reversing a trend of more people waiting for their second injection each week since mid-July.

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